Page 100 of One Good Crash

"No. You're not. Youknowyou can't go alone, right?"

"Well, obviously, since I don't own a car."And how embarrassing was that?

"Or," he continued, "with a stranger."

I stared in confusion. "I don't even know what you mean."

"Don't you?"

"No, I…" And then it hit me. I sank back in the seat. "Oh."

Chapter 42

As I sat in the passenger's seat of that beat-up van, it became glaringly obvious that Jax knew a lot more than I'd realized.

An hour ago, in a momentary burst of panic, I'd called Allie at the office and begged her to tell Jax that I didn't need his help after all.

When she'd asked what I'd been planning to do instead, I'd mentioned the possibility of doing the whole ride-share thing.

I could still recall what I'd told her. "Cheaper than a taxi and more flexible, right?"

Allie's responsehadn'tbeen enthusiastic. In fact, she'd berated me – and quite loudly, too – for even thinking of going alone.

"But I won't be goingcompletelyalone," I'd told her. "I'll just pay the driver to wait or something."

Okay, it's not thatIwas in love with the idea either, but the way I saw it, it still would've better than watching Jax get drooled on by my mom.

I liked him. A lot. And even if my momdidn'ttry to molest him, I still hated the idea of dragging him through needless drama.

His voice, quieter now, broke into my thoughts. "You wanna know why I came early?"

I turned to look at him. "Why?"

"Because I'm walking by Allie's office, and I hear her tellingsomebodythat going alone is a bad idea. And I stop, because I'm thinking, 'She can't be talking to Cassidy.' But then, after some yelling back and forth—"

"Hey,Iwasn't yelling."

After only the briefest pause, he continued. "Afterthe yelling, I hear Allie say, 'You can't do that. He's already on his way.'"

"Wait, so youhadn'talready left? Did Allie know that?"

He shrugged. "Don't know, don't care."

"Why not?"

"Because she did the right thing."

I almost didn't know what to say. I felt like I'd been ganged up on – and even worse, outsmarted. And yet, the whole thing was obnoxiously sweet as much as I hated to admit it. Still, I couldn't help but mutter, "No wonder she was talking so loud."

"Good thing, too." His gaze locked on mine. "Because let's get one thing straight. You arenotgoing alone."

His eyes were dark and intense, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he might've done if Ihadgone alone. From the look in his eyes, I almost didn't want to speculate.

But Iwascaught off guard. In truth, his reaction was so utterly foreign that I didn't know what to say. Finally, I settled on, "That's a little bossy, don’t you think?"

He didn't even hesitate. "No."

"Oh, come on. You can't be serious."